‘My body needed a break' - ex-Ireland international's take on summer friendlies

Irish Daily Mirror

21 hours ago

One former Ireland international has offered his perspective on the summer friendlies - claiming they can be 'disruptive' for some and an opportunity for others.
The games can interfere with a player's recovery from a long, hard season, and have a knock-on effect heading into the next campaign, says 110-time capped former international Kevin Kilbane.
He recalls how he once skipped a couple of summer fixtures to ensure he was in top condition for the season ahead.
He believes that summer friendlies are opportunities to give young and inexperienced players a taste of the international scene - both on the pitch and around the camp.
And in that regard, he believes Heimir Hallgrímsson has got his squad selection spot-on for the games against Senegal at the Aviva Stadium and away to Luxembourg, with five uncapped players arriving this week into camp and 12 with 10 or fewer caps.
The former Iceland boss also made a point of omitting most of his Championship-based options, as their season ended a month ago.
'I always think the experienced players probably have more to lose than anything with these games,' said Kilbane, speaking to Mirror Sport with Netbet Sports Betting.
'The players that pull out get their attitudes questioned, and the players that turn up are maybe not looking after their bodies, they are not doing things right. You can't really win with it.
'It's all about the younger players, the inexperienced players with not a lot of caps, the youngsters that have never been a part of the squad before.
'They are the ones that can really make an impression around the whole camp itself, not just the games.
'That's going to be an interesting one to see how they adapt coming into the squad. Are they able to cope with that sort of atmosphere, the intensity around it?
'I think it is a bit more relaxed, the summer friendlies, but there is still an intensity around it that a lot of players - and we've seen it over the years with so many players - they are not really able to cope the best when they are away from home, away from their families, and also around the environment they are in.
'It's going to be an interesting one to see how the younger players do cope with that.'
Kilbane, who now lives in Canada with wife Brianne Delcourt, famously played 66 competitive games for Ireland in a row - a run that, in international football, is only bettered by England legend Billy Wright.
A back operation meant Kilbane could not catch Wright's record of 70 consecutive games, and he missed a Euro 2012 qualifier against Slovakia as a result.
It was an earlier back injury that led to Kilbane making himself unavailable for Giovanni Trapattoni's first camp as Ireland boss - including a pair of summer friendlies against Serbia and Colombia.
'I did actually miss international windows,' he said. 'I missed certain games that maybe I wasn't picked for or was left out of.
'But I always remember, I think I was at Wigan, it was Trap's first game, his very first window with the squad, and I was really struggling with my back for the majority of the second half of the season.
'It was a case of, if it's a cup final tomorrow, yeah, I can play. And if it was a competitive game, I absolutely probably would have played in it.
'But I knew my body needed those four weeks that I hadn't had probably for 12 years previous.
'I hadn't had a month off in a long time, but I needed it just to get myself ready for the next season, and obviously I would have been looking ahead to the World Cup qualifiers after that.
'I didn't really have too much dialogue with Trap at that time, but the message that went back to him was, look, he's been struggling.
'So he said, fine, let him have the rest, or whatever it will be.
'I think that will be the case for a lot of players now, they will have had these sorts of injuries that continuously come up. Can you just manage your body now and have that break?
'I think Heimir Hallgrímsson has been wise in giving the Championship players that have had a lot of games that little bit of time.
'I'm sure one or two that have been left out are probably struggling with injury, a little bit. Or certain little niggles that they've had across the course of the season.
'This gives them those three or four weeks off that they wouldn't have had in a long time to fully recuperate, get the body right and start the pre-season.'
This international window, according to Kilbane, can have a knock-on effect and disrupt pre-season training - particularly if a club manager gives a player extra time off on account of their activities earlier in the summer with their country.
The former Sunderland and Everton man said: 'Probably during my whole career, my pre-season was always disrupted because of the international games in the summer.
'Whether it was a certain manager who might give you an extra week off, if you go back into pre-season a week later, you always feel as though you are behind in the running, fitness-wise.
'So you always feel like you are playing catch-up then.
'I honestly don't think it makes too much difference, it's more of a mental thing from the player - I've got to have a good pre-season, I've got to get myself as fit as possible.
'If you feel like you are lagging behind a little bit, you are behind in the runs or you are behind in certain things, then I always feel as though that's maybe the mental side of it, that you always feel like you are on catch-up.
'I think giving the players a break is wise, but looking at the window in general, I think it's more of an opportunity for younger players than the experienced ones.'